The fault in our stars
by Unnormal Child
Summary: Rose finally concentrated and asked the only question that bothered her so much at the moment, "Who the hell are you!" "Sweetie, I'm River Song," the woman winked while giving Rose a hug, "and I'm incredibly happy to see you." The story of the 10th Doctor and Rose Tyler - because nothing can separate them.
1. Chapter 1

**Brand new Doctor and Rose's adventures with Rose finally meeting her Doctor! *insert happy face here* Now, 1-2-3, Allons-y!**

**And the past echoed – Pt. 1**

**(set as a replacement for 'Silence in the library')**

Rose finished writing a letter to her mom and 'dad' and, putting it on a shelf to send later, sighed.

It has been two years since she and the Doctor last saw each other and, although for other people two years would be a long period of time, for woman they felt like a month.

She missed the Doctor dearly, as well as their adventures, but she soon came to realisation that missing won't save the world, and if she somehow wants to help, she'll need to go and work in Torchwood.

Because Mickey worked there, Rose didn't feel extremely lonely, but sometimes she would still feel a bit... off.

Just as she thought, Torchwood didn't have a lot to deal with. Occasionally they would meet a couple of aliens, but that was as far as it would go. Rose was trying to prove to herself that she did something important but, to be honest, she knew that it wasn't a thousand part of how important the Doctor was.

To distract herself from thinking of such a negative thoughts she usually busied herself with thinking of some new ways in which she can help Torchwood.

Just as any Torchwood worker, Tyler lived near the building, which meant moving away from her parent and little brother. At first Jackie wanted all of them to move out with her daughter but Rose persuaded her to think over it as being close to a Torchwood worker might put one in danger. Obviously, Jackie didn't agree at first and was rumbling at how she doesn't care about any kind of danger and that, if needed, she herself can 'kick aliens' asses', but she knew that Rose was right and she wanted a quiet and peaceful life for her little Tony.

Rose's life became a routine: wake up at 7, do all the morning routine, arrive at job, research something, have a quick chat with Mickey and Jake at lunch, help if she knew something about a particular planet or alien race, go home and eat something from fast-food shop opposite her house.

Now, she wasn't particularly fond with this routine but it was much better that the one she had while working in a shop before she met her Doctor.

Rose frowned: she always ended up thinking about the Doctor. What was he doing? Where was he right now? Did he ever think of her? Did he find a new companion and got over her?

Well, actually, she kind of knew why she started thinking about the Doctor the moment she woke up – something was up.

Her clock, which worked perfectly for over 5 years, suddenly broke and ringed at half past eleven – much later that it usually ringed on Sundays. The postman that delivered newspapers to her house didn't appear – for the first time in the year and a half that she lived in this apartment. And, what freaked her out the most – as well as millions of others – the Big Ben's clock stopped. It was only for a couple of minutes but just the fact that _The_ Big Ben stopped was quite disturbing.

Something was happening to time. Rose wondered if it had anything to do with the Doctor but if it did, why did it affect the parallel universe?

Her phone suddenly rang and Tyler picked up her scratched and old phone.

"Yeah?"

"_Rose, it's Mickey."_

"Hey, Mickey, whatcha doing?"

"_Listen, I don't have time to explain – can you come to the Torchwood's main entrance?"_

"Sure, but why do you sound so-"

"_No time to explain, Rose – quick!"_

Switching off her phone, Rose quickly got dressed and soon was out of her house.

Mickey definitely sounded strange and, dare she say it, excited? Like her, Mickey didn't work on Sundays, so whatever it was that he found was probably rather important and, most likely, confidential – not mentioning it on the phone was odd.

In a couple of minutes the blonde was next to the main entrance and looking around, expecting to see Mickey. However, she was soon approached by two men she's never seen before.

"Name." The taller man demanded.

"Rose Tyler." Rose got used to this kind of questioning but it was still weird as most of Torchwood workers knew her – even guards.

"Identify your code."

"17i3qhd-dot-l6p."

"Miss Tyler, follow us," the shorter guard said after checking the base for the said code. The group entered the building and the blonde followed the guards.

In a matter of minutes they were on the second floor, entering the room Rose was always restricted to enter.

"Rose!" Mickey exclaimed, running towards the blonde and giving her a big hug.

"Wow, Mickey, I've only seen you yesterday – if you missed me that much, you should have called and we would meet up or something," Tyler joked, looking around, "though I think something is up."

"Something is definitely up, Rose," Mickey replied, releasing her from his tight hug and stepping aside so she can look around the room, "and, though I'm not 100% sure, it might concern the Doctor."

The room was plain white, but it was full with... stuff about her Doctor. There were the Doctor's pictures – of his previous regenerations and the present one; the sketch of the Doctor's skeleton with all of his organs, each one annotated; different diagrams – either of some of the Doctor's belongings (like sonic screwdriver and psychic paper) or some suspicious machines found somewhere in London.

"Mickey, what is it?" Rose angrily asked, looking around.

"Rose, you need to understand that if we told you about this room, you-"

"Mickey, what the hell is it?" She asked again, not referring to the meanings of all these diagrams and writings. "You were collecting information about the Doctor all along and you never once mentioned it to me? You never showed me the room that contained so much information about him and you expect me to help you in any way? Is this some kind of sick joke, because I thought that 'we better forget about the Doctor and get on with our lives', like you told me?"

"Rose!" Mickey loudly said while his blonde friend was heavily breathing and looking at him as he was her enemy. "I know what I said but there was a reason why we started 'The Time Lord' project." Silence. "Soon after you came here there were some weird things happening with time but I and your family decided not to mention it to you because back then you were emotionally distressed and weren't able to comprehend anything. Now, however, I think it's time to tell you."

"Does it have anything to do with the Big Ben stopping for some time this morning?" The blonde asked, trying not to shout at the person she thought she knew perfectly well only a minute ago.

"Pretty much so, yes," the guy nodded, "as well as a number of other weird things, but you get me. Right now we think that they have something to do with the Doctor but if you want to know further information you need to promise to me to keep calm and not run off, making up some ideas that the Doctor is coming to this world, alright, love?"

Heavily sighing, Rose quietly agreed, causing Mickey to smile.

"'kay, then. Mr Sheffildson?"

"Just as your friend said, this concerns some time jumps and it's necessary we deal with it as quickly as possible – else it might cause a number of problems to our world." The man in his middle forties explained, motioning Rose to sit on a chair which she did. "As everyone in this room knows the Doctor is a Time Lord and he's the only living creature that can affect time at the moment, is that right, Miss Tyler?"

"I suppose so, yes," the blonde agreed, "because all the other Time Lords are long... gone."

"Well, following this conclusion, the Doctor is the only possible cause of all of this time jumping. This morning me and Mr Jeckerson did a triple scan of the planet, and-"

"You can do that?" The woman exclaimed, sounding both surprised and excited. "I didn't know you can. Is Torchwood also taking pictures for Google Maps?"

Mickey and a couple of other people in the room snickered, but Mr Sheffildson looked unimpressed.

"We can do much more than that and, no, we don't. Miss Tyler, I want you to concentrate."

"Yep, sorry."

"While scanning the Earth for the first time we found a weird hole in the atmosphere which can't be possible so we checked again – it was gone, but there was a weird activity in South America. After checking it for the third time we saw it in Scotland. When we tried to check it for the fourth time, the computer suddenly stopped working and a message informing us about an error appeared which isn't possible because we have the newest and best technology this time has. During the second check this... activity disappeared for a second only to appear again and that was the time when, how we were informed, the Big Ben stopped working for a couple of minutes and clocks in clock shops started ringing all as one, although none of them had batteries in them. Do you understand what that means, Miss Tyler?"

"Something is coming," Rose replied and, unknowingly to herself, added, "the oncoming storm."

"We don't want to make you hope for something, but it's quite possible that the Doctor somehow... 'hopped' into this universe and he's looking for something – probably you. But, once again, it's not a 100% information and it might be something else."

"Okay," the woman barely whispered and suddenly started laughing. This laugh wasn't like her typical laugh – this one was a 'nervous laugh'. "So, what you are saying is there is a _possibility _that the Doctor is somewhere out there, looking for me, and I don't need to get my hopes up. He's... he might be standing next to my apartment at this very moment and all you can say is 'we might be wrong'?"

"Rose, I told you not to hope too much." Mickey interrupted, grabbing his friend by her shoulders and shaking a bit. "The Doctor interfered in this universe way too much so it might be some sort of echo from the parallel universe."

The woman felt like crying: just this morning she was persuading herself to stop thinking about the Doctor and get on with her life and now there was a possibility – quite a high one, truth to be told, because all of these people considered this as well – that he was somewhere out there, looking for her.

It was just too damn emotional to be kept inside, so Rose started quietly crying. Mickey sighed, hugging her, while other scientists in the room looked at them, feeling sorry for a girl who seemed to hope for impossible just too much.

"I will call you if something new comes up, yeah?" Mickey quietly asked, gently stroking her hair – the gesture seemed to always calm her down. After a nod from the blonde, Mickey continued, "So go home, have a good 8-hours sleep – because I know you didn't have much sleep lately with all this paperwork – and come back tomorrow, fully refreshed and ready."

Rose nodded once again and, stepping away, looked around. There was so much information about him – she probably didn't know half of it – and she was ready to explore all of it the next day.

"See ya tomorrow, Mickey!" Rose said, trying to sound cheerful but failing miserably.

"'course. And don't forget to send a letter to your parents, because I know how often you forget about it." The infamous Smith smirked, waving at his best friend. Well, technically, Jake was his best friend, so Rose was his best _female _friend, but still.

After leaving the building Rose checked 'WHSmith' for new magazines and bough a sandwich from 'Greggs'. While walking towards her house she only wondered about one thing: why did she buy a sandwich with tuna? She _hated _tuna!

Rose was looking for keys in her pockets when she suddenly realised that the door was opened. She clearly remembered closing it, so it was either her parents and small brother who randomly decided to visit her (and had keys) or...

She didn't want to think about the possibility of some stranger being inside her house but, just to be safe, she took a brick that laid just outside her house and quietly opened the door, begging for it not to make any sound. Luckily, it didn't.

Just as quietly Rose entered her house and looked around. So far everything looked alright but all her savings and TV were in the living room – Tyler wasn't convinced in her own safety just yet.

Slowly coming towards her bedroom she heard some shuffling and, screaming "Got ya!", jumped it. However, instead of some tall guy in a mask that would cover his face, she was met with a woman in her late forties that was looking through her stuff and making comments like "Ohh, that's nice!" or "No wonder he loves her". After hearing a scream, the woman with curly light hear turned around and happily smiled at shocked Rose.

"Ahh, here you are – finally! You know, for a moment I thought that I won't find you, but then I showed a picture of you to some old lady that told me where you live, and I came! I must say, I really like your room – it's girly but it has its personality."

Rose Tyler was completely stunned and was only gaping like a fish, "Wha- Where- How?"

"You can't even imagine how long it took me to find you," the strange woman said, looking concerned. "For some reason my bracelet felt that you live in South America – where I was teleported – but then it told me that you're somewhere in Scotland. Again, it was wrong, so then I supposed that you would probably be somewhere in London, working for Torchwood. Of course, I knew that the chances were extremely slip, but here I am, and I finally found you!"

Rose finally concentrated and asked the only question that bothered her so much at the moment, "Who the hell are you?!"

"Sweetie, I'm River Song," the woman winked while giving Rose a hug, "and I'm incredibly happy to see you."

**A/N: so, I hope you liked it ;) do you want me to make chapters shorter/longer? include some particular companions? reviews make me happy :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for support & I'm extremely pleased that people seem to like Donna as much as I do! Off we go ;)**

**And the past echoed – Pt. 2**

**(set as a replacement for 'Silence in the library')**

"_Sweetie, I'm River Song," the woman winked while giving Rose a hug, "and I'm incredibly happy to see you."_

"Do you want some tea?" Rose asked, checking her cupboards for teabags.

"Yep, green tea would be nice," River replied, sitting down on a chair.

It was half an hour since Rose Tyler arrived at her house and found out there was a woman in her bedroom that knew about her and the Doctor. The first five minutes of their talk all Rose could do was freak out about how much River knew about the Doctor but the most shocking thing was the fact that the Doctor himself told Song all of this.

Rose didn't know herself why she trusted the woman she met half an hour ago so much. Maybe, the woman was lying and she knew so much about the Doctor because she was some sort of an alien that looked like humans – just like Time Lords – or she was simply working in an organisation that was following Doctor's every step and needed him for experience.

However, all her doubts disappeared as Song mentioned Rose's relationship with the Doctor. Only a couple of people knew about them – and mostly these were Rose's and the Doctor's friends. River then told her that she knows of Rose's confession on Bad Wolf Bay and it put Rose in a complete confusion. There were only 3 people, apart from herself and the Doctor, that knew about this – her parents and Mickey. When Rose started asking how River knows all of this the woman replied that she can't answer because it will destroy the time line and greatly affect the universe. For herself blonde concluded that River was Doctor's friend or companion.

"So, I know that you can't tell me about yourself," Rose started, boiling the water, "and about your relationship with the Doctor..."

"That's right," River Song sounded encouraging.

"But can you answer this question: are you human?" Jackie's daughter asked, sounding generally curious. She was still unsure about the whole situation but River looked like a friendly person so Rose wasn't feeling shy about asking.

"You can say so, yes." The mysterious woman replied, looking around her kitchen. "Can I ask you a question in return?"

"Feel free to," Tyler nodded, "because I doubt there is anything that you don't know."

River laughed at this remark – she liked Rose more and more with each moment – no wonder Doctor loved her though much. Despite it, the mysterious woman didn't feel happy because she knew that her time was coming up.

"Well, for starters, if this TARDIS blue?" River asked, pointing at the walls in the kitchen.

"Oh, yeah." Rose gave out a nervous laugh, sheepishly looking at the said walls. "When I moved in the walls were yellow but the paint was so old that I decided to paint it differently and, while being in shop, I've seen this colour and, well..."

"... it just felt right, didn't it?" Song reassuringly finished. "I know this feeling: when I was looking for some wrapping paper for Christmas presents I chose this blue shade. There were thousands of different colours and shades and I still chose this blue! Incredible!"

Both women smiled at this remark and both felt the calmness of the moment.

Nevertheless, confused blonde needed to know exactly _why_ River was looking for her.

"River, I think it's time we talk seriously." Rose remarked, turning off the kettle and pouring water in both cups. "Why are you here and why do you need me?"

"Ahh, and here I was, enjoying the conversation," Song smiles, "but you are right – it's time. I can't tell you just how much I know but I can tell you that I can travel in time and space – just like the Doctor because of this bracelet." The woman motioned to her hand. "Of course, it isn't TARDIS and these travels give me a slight headache, as well as the fact that I'm not immortal and can't continue this as long as the Doctor. Anyway, long story short, I come from the Doctor's future."

"Doctor's future?" For a moment Rose looked lost but then she came to realisation. "It's actually possible?"

"I assure you – it is, though it sounds almost impossible, but after meeting with Doctor we all start to enjoy making the impossible possible, don't we?"

"I guess... alright, I know you can't tell me a lot, but just how further in his personal time line did you meet him?" Rose took her cup and held the other one to her new friend that smiled at this gesture.

"You see, this is a delicate question," River looked concerned, "though you don't need to think about it, love. As I was saying, I met Doctor a couple of years into the future and... I've seen it all, Rose. The fire and blood and anguish. And you are the only person that's able to save him."

"But... how- what?" Doctor's ex-companion sighed – she was confused once again. "If you mean him being alone then I'm sure he already found a new companion or will find one in near future."

"It's not about feeling lonely, Rose," Song softly replied, sounding much more mature that she looked, "because, as you know, Doctor feels lonely almost all the time. I don't want to offend you but even when he was travelling with you he was feeling lonely. It's more about... loss. He lost his people – his family. He lost or left so many companions but among all these people and aliens you, Rose Tyler, are the one he had feelings for. After the Time War he had a difficult time while trying to adjust to the thought that he is now the only Time Lord in the whole universe. However, the time passed and he got better. After he lost you he became that man again – the Lonely one, the Lost one. He didn't know neither where to start nor where to go and he became harsher, not giving others any second chances."

"What you are saying – my loss provoked him?"

"Unfortunately, yes – now he's much sharper and serious, probably like his ninth regeneration. Remember him?"

"Yeah, when we met he was acting really silly on occasions but most of the time he was serious and didn't talk about his past," Rose agreed and made another cup of tea. "I still don't get it – will you send me to him? And how will I save him?"

"Yes, Rose, we will travel to his exact destination and you will be able to stay with him while knowing that you won't be able to go to this universe. And here comes the best part: you don't need to do anything to save him – just be by his side."

At that moment Rose finally realised everything – she was going to parallel universe, to her Doctor and had a chance to stay with him forever! If everything was as simple as River said...

"I will never be able to come to this universe? Even with you?"

River didn't wasn't to upset Rose (and confuse her) by saying that for her this was their last meeting, but she already knew that her previous self won't allow it.

"I'm afraid not so, before we leave, you'll need to say 'goodbye's to all people you're friends with in this universe. I can only take one person – which is you – with me and I know it might be hard but Doctor needs you more than he thinks he does."

Rose Tyler - the saviour of the Universe - didn't know what to do. She was always so eager to meet her Doctor again and travel through space and time but she knew that it meant her final goodbye with her parents. Was she ready for it – to abandon her family, Mickey and all the friends she made here to travel with the Doctor? She still loved him, without doubt, but she still wasn't sure if he reciprocated these feeling. Besides, something might go wrong and they might not meet the Doctor. Decisions, decisions...

"How much time do we have?"

"Around 12 hours with all that travelling just to find you," River replied, happy that Rose made a right decision. "You better call your parents and meet up with them – as well as your friends. It's better we're finished as fast as possible because with all this timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly you can't be possibly sure in anything. See what I mean?"

"Where did this 'timey-wimey' come from?" Rose asked because she was sure it wasn't something an ordinary human would say. But then again, just as the Doctor once said – there weren't any ordinary humans, and if there were, River would definitely stand out.

"Oh, that's just something that Doctor's eleventh regeneration says all the time," Song said off-handily but she soon realised her slip while looking at Rose. The girl was obviously curious. "Yeah, I can't really tell you anything about his eleventh regeneration – sorry."

"It's fine – I'll find out someday, right?" Rose smiled and, putting her cup in sink, ran towards her room. "I'll call my parents and Mickey now, 'right?"

"Please do," River replied while sighing. Rose only knew her for about 40 minutes, yet the girl trusted River so much. It was amazing how bright Jackie and Pete's daughter was and it made all the more difficult for Song because, in all honesty, she didn't want to go. Nobody would, really, but now, after all the things she went through and wanted yet to see...

It wasn't only about Doctor and taking Rose with her to change their future and her past. Her marriage to the Doctor was a good thing – she never doubted that, of course – but she also knew that having someone as happy, unpredictable and exciting as Rose Tyler by his side would change Doctor for the best. After finding out that she's going to die soon River decided to sacrifice her life with the Doctor by travelling to parallel universe and taking Rose with her. She had no idea how it will affect her past and relationship with the Doctor and she wasn't fully sure if she made a right decision but here she was, sitting in Rose Tyler's kitchen and having an easy conversation with the girl that, supposedly, will take her place as the Doctor's wife.

"I already called my parents and they'll come in an hour or so," Rose announced, coming in the kitchen and putting down her mobile phone. River saw the uncertainty and worry in her eyes but she wasn't surprised at all: her own mom and dad wouldn't want her to leave home and place herself in a danger of travelling through time and space where she would always meet some aliens that would want to kill her.

"While we are waiting, would you mind doing me a favour?" River asked, standing from her chair.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can we take a picture of both of us, standing against your kitchen wall?"

The question was rather odd but, nevertheless, Rose agreed to it, and soon the picture of both of them smiling appeared from the Polaroid. River took it in her hands and, smiling, touched both of their faces.

"Keep it, Rose," Song said, giving her companion the photo, "and try not to lose it. Better get a notebook and stick it in there."

"Why would I need a notebook?"

"I have one – and it has TARDIS' design. I write there about everything I go through – which is a lot so I'll never forget."

"How can you forget about amazing adventures through space and time?" Rose laughed but was met with seriousness in Song's eyes.

"Time passes by and you start to forget these little things that make you who you are. In ten years time you might not remember that you used to drink coffee when you were stressed out or what your favourite colour used to be. Memory doesn't only define your personality. People might say that love is the most important thing in the world, to be honest, memory is. Would you like to wake up one day and not remember anything about your friend that you once considered as your closest friend? I guess my notebook just helps me to live on and not forget a detail of my life."

Rose smiled at the remark, "I think I will get one. Mind going to 'Rymond' with me?"

∞ **DW ∞**

"I don't want to hear any more of this nonsense, Pete!"

"But Jackie, what would you do? Tell her to stop thinking about the Doctor? Jacks, he's a huge part of her life – just as you are – but she already knows that you are here with me, safe and have a son to raise. Do you think she would leave us without knowing that you're alright?"

Jackie Tyler huffed, knowing that Pete was right but still not wanting to agree with the thought of her daughter leaving for the second time – and now without a chance to see each other again. "Well, you should have at least given me the damn phone an' I could try and convince her to think over it."

"Love, it's Rose we're talking about – do you really think she would agree to continue living an ordinary life in this universe while having a chance to travel with the very man she loves?"

"Well... I could have at least tried... anyway, I'll get Tony dressed and you get in the car – at least I gonna see my little girl for the last time and... and..." Jackie suddenly started crying but Mr Tyler expected as much. Instead of hugging her – which, he knew, will make her cry all the more – he placed his palms on both sides of her face and lifted it up so she can look him in the eyes.

"Like you once said, I don't know her as much as you do but if there's one thing that I know she would do is go with the Doctor – that crazy man in blue box – and save the world. She wants you to trust in her and, just for a second, think about all the times you told me how they saved the world and remind yourself of the excitement you had while telling me these stories. She's an incredible girl, this Rose Tyler, and I doubt there will ever be a girl like her."

"'course there won't," Jackie quietly said while weeping off her tears, "'cause you won't be able to find a person like her in the whole freaking universe. Rose is my little girl and also the saviour of the universe."

"That's the spirit, Jacks!" Pete smiled while releasing his wife and picking up car's keys. "Now show Rose this spirit and tell her what you really think she's worth."

"That's right, 'cause she's worth millions!"

∞ **DW ∞**

"So, I guess that's a final goodbye then, eh, Rosie?" Mickey said with a weak smile on his face.

"Oi don't call me 'Rosie' – that's so cheesy!" Rose laughed while hugging her friend. "Or else I might call you 'Mics'!"

"'Mics'? Really?" Smith sounded unimpressed and almost like he expected it. Then he started looking through his pockets and took something out.

"Wait, is it..?"

"Yeah, it's the bracelet I got you for our first anniversary."

A sad smile, "Yeah, and you were also late and brought me roses – which was an incredible cliché, if you ask me, but while buying them you didn't realise how unoriginal it is to buy roses for Rose."

"What, did someone got you roses before?"

"Someone?" Jackie's daughter gave out a short laugh. "You should be joking, right? Every bouquet I got was always a bouquet of roses. That isn't funny, you know, and everyone thought they were original by getting me roses."

Mickey snickered, "Well, I almost got you daisies for our second anniversary."

"That would be original, though I'm kinda happy that you didn't - I can almost imagine the waiter's face when he saw us with a bouquet of daisies!"

Both laughed and the moment of contentment passed between them.

"Rose, I..."

"Mickey, I hope you don't finish this sentence, or else you gonna be really sorry!" Rose said fiercely, her brown eyes full of confidence. "Don't apologise for anything, regret nothing and don't you dare thinking over our past and saying that both of us should have found someone else before everything went wrong. I, Mickey Smith, don't have any regrets and I certainly wouldn't want you to have any as well. Are we clear on that?"

"I only wanted to tell you that I hear you parents' car but... okay." Mickey said a bit shocked because, well, he _did _want to talk about it.

After Rose ran out of the house to meet her parents, Smith walked towards River – they didn't really have a chance to talk privately as Rose was always nearby.

"Can you promise me that you will get her to Doctor and won't suddenly appear in some random time on some random planet without a chance to get back?" Mickey asked seriously, though he already knew the answer.

"Yep, 100% assurance." Song nodded but then she added, "Well, 99, to be exact, but Rose is an incredibly lucky girl, so don't you worry, Mickey-O."

"'Mickey-O'? Why do people keep giving me some weird nicknames?"

"Don't want to offend you, but your name is so typical that people almost feel the urge to make some nicknames for all the Mickeys, James', Toms and Petes in the world just to differentiate them." River winked. "Anyway, anything else you want me to promise to you?"

"Nothing you can handle but if you see the Doctor, please tell him that if something happens to Rose – and I will find out – I will travel through parallel universes, find him and make feel sorry for being born."

River just chuckled and nodded, "I will definitely tell him that."

When Rose and her parents came in, Mickey went to stand by the wall while Tylers and River had an intense discussion about Rose's future. Hearing shouting and frustrated sighs Smith only smirked: there was no way Rose would not go with this strange woman. Even if her parents were completely against the idea of letting their 'little girl' going with River, Rose would still go, but Mickey could see that Mr Tyler was quite calm and Mrs Tyler was slowly, but surely giving up.

Everything was happening as it should have.

In about fifteen minutes Rose and River went towards the centre of the room and Rose's parent went to stand next to stand next to Mickey.

Rose Tyler and River Song held hands and, after Rose screamed 'I love you all!', River pressed a button on her bracelet and they disappeared in a flash of light.

Rose was gone now. Forever.

**A/N: sorry, a lot of talking but I promise I'm almost finished and soon you'll see action. reviews make me happy :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**And the past echoed – Pt. 3**

It was only a second after Rose was separated from her parents – now she felt like she was lying on the cold floor.

Slowly opening her eyes, she looked around. All she could see was white walls, a pile of books and people in white costumes that reminded Rose of the ones astronauts usually wear.

"Where am I?" the girl asked, feeling a slight headache and wincing.

"You are in a planet-sized book repository called 'The Library'," one of the group said and turned around, smiling at confused Rose. "Professor River Song explained to us that you are her sister and you will help us with this expedition. My name is Anita, and these are Strackman Lux, 'proper' Dave, 'other' Dave and Miss Evangelista." Anita said, motioning to each person. "You are Rose, yeah?"

"Yeah, Rose Ty- Song. Rose Song." she replied, trying to keep calm. "Anyway, have any of you seen my... sister?"

"Ohh, I'm here, Rose," River sing-sang, entering the room. "I hope you met all of my colleagues. Now, Rose , I need you to promise me that you won't wander off because we're not sure if it's safe here."

"Alright. Do I need to wear a costume like you do?"

"Yes, young lady," Strackman Lux nodded, motioning to the costume that laid near the wall, "and you also need to sign the contract agreeing that your individual experience inside the Library are the intellectual property of our company. Miss Evangelista, please give her the contract."

"Yes, sir," brunette hurried towards Rose, giving her the paper and the pen. After sighing everything, Tyler put on the heavy costume and the helmet.

"Okay, everyone, we can now leave the spaceship but keep close to each other," Strackman announced and people started leaving the ship. Rose walked close to River and quietly asked her, "How come they are so calm about us appearing here out of nowhere?"

"No, they didn't see us appearing – all they saw is me coming into another spaceship and then come out carrying you in my hands. I explained that you are my sister and you are unconscious because you are claustrophobic and to keep you from being nervous and scared the captain of the other ship decided to give you a sleeping pill."

"Em, but what about other ship?"

"The other ship was empty and I opened it with my sonic screwdriver." Song showed her the object she was talking about. "Before you ask – yes, it's Doctor's screwdriver and I know it might look different from the one you last saw. The reason he gave it to me... only he'll be able to explain it to you."

Rose was still confused about lots of things but she tried to keep herself calm, "And why was I unconscious for so long?"

"First time travelling with this bracelet – the same happened to me. Now, I'm surprised you are asking me questions like this – you are about to see the Doctor! Aren't you excited?"

Blonde gulped turning away from River and looking straight. Suddenly her hands began trembling and her breathing hitched. Millions of possibilities – _what if he's not here, what if we're late, what if he forgot – _and millions of thoughts – _how will he react, will he be happy, did he find someone._ She was going to see _her _Doctor – after everything that happened, after all they went through.

"Hey," River took Rose's hand, "don't you worry: Doctor is here – I can feel it – and he will be extremely happy to see you. Everything is going be okay."

_Nothing is going to be okay._

"I trust you." Rose suddenly said, taking her friend's hand and intensely looking into River's eyes. "I trust you with my life. It is irrational and wrong on so many levels but I trust you no matter what."

Silence.

"Then, before we meet him, I need to warn you about something: he won't remember me. At all. This is our first meeting – for him, of course – so don't be surprised if he will start questioning you who I am and why do you trust me. Do you understand that?"

"Yes."

"Right then." River smirked, letting go of Rose's hand that she was squeezing so much without realising. "Also, I want to tell you before we meet the Doctor... yes, you can show that you know him but if he asks about me, try to change the conversation because it will get really awkward if you'll call me your sister while, clearly, we've never met before."

"Sure thing, River – you can count on me."

Song smiled, "Oh, I didn't doubt for a second." Then she turned around and announced, "Okay, no one takes off the helmet because we don't know if there is any oxygen."

"Which century is it?" Rose whispered to River.

"Fifty-first." Song answered and then smiled. "Thirty centuries after you were born, and yet people still wear same hair styles and don't fly just by wishing, huh?"

Tyler laughed, "Yeah, and just four years ago I thought that we will be able to do everything just by wishing near the end of thirty's century. Turns out things aren't that exciting."

"I can assure you that most things stayed the same."

"If people still need deodorants, I'm not amused at all."

Both women laughed and continued their way. Right now the group was in the hall, searching for anyone or anything. As they came further, the group found the weird plastic figure that, upon realising someone's presence, turned around and revealed the face of a girl.

"Oh my God, is this face real?" Rose asked, clearly freaked out about some plastic having face of a real person.

"Dear God, where have your sister being the whole time – didn't she read about the place before coming with us?" Other Dave wondered aloud, talking to River. "This, Rose, is a node. It will give us any information about the library it will think is important to us."

Just then the node started speaking, "Welcome. I am a node 710/aqua. Please enjoy the library and respect the personal access clause of all your fellow readers, regardless of species. Additional, there follows brief message from the head librarian for your urgent attention. It has being edited for tone and content by Felmen Lux's decency filter. Message follows: 'Run. For God's sake, run. Nowhere is safe. The library has sealed itself – we can't. Oh, they're here. Ugh, slug, sniff.' Message ends. Please switch off your mobile communits for the comfort of other readers."

The group members started looking at each other. Unlike others, Rose looked completely terrified.

"Any other messages that follow the same date?" River calmly asked – it looked like she wasn't really surprised.

"One additional message. Message follows: 'Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember – if you want to live, count the shadows.' Message ends."

"This... node has human's face – real human's face." Rose choked, not understanding why everyone else is so calm.

"People 'donate' their faces after their death but it's not a big deal – it's like donating a bench or some sort," Anita explained, looking slightly amused because Rose didn't know such an obvious thing. "Anyhow, this message... should we take it seriously?"

"It might be truth, _or _it might be a silly joke," Strackman argued, "so I don't think we need to take it seriously and might as well continue our journey. Anyone is too scared and want to go to the ship and fly back to mommy?" Silence. "Well, then, we shall continue our way through the library."

The group started moving, though Rose looked unsure and still freaked out about the whole 'real face on the node' experience. Maybe, in future it was completely normal, but for her it was like a... walking wardrobe – surreal and definitely stupid.

As the group continued their way through the library, some of the members making a couple of comments on the design or emptiness, they finally came across the door that was the entry to the shop.

"Mind if we go check the shop?" The 'proper' Dave asked Strackman, motioning to the door.

"I do, actually, but we are archaeologists so it's in our nature that we explore everything we come across, don't we?" The oldest man in the group answered, pushing the door. "It doesn't open."

"Let me," River said, taking out her sonic screwdriver and using it on the door. The bright light, then the door was forcefully pushed inside, letting the group of archaeologists and Rose step inside.

∞ **DW ∞**

"That shadow... it's gone," Donna nervously said, tapping the Doctor's shoulder, who looked just as – if not more – concerned.

"We need to get back to the TARDIS," the Doctor thickly replied.

"Why?"

"'Cause that shadow isn't gone – it's moved," he explained.

"Reminder, the library has been breached – others are coming." The node with a young man's face said. "Reminder, the library has been breached – others are coming. Reminder, the library has been breached..."

The door – the other door that was locked from the start – was suddenly flying inside the room, following the bright light. Donna and the Doctor closed their eyed and ran away from it, expecting the worse.

After the door was opened, a group of people in white costumes came inside. All of them were in helmets, so it was impossible to tell if those were humans or aliens. However, the person in the lead came near the Doctor and, pressing the button at the back of the helmet, revealed her face to the Doctor – it was River.

"Hello, sweetie," Song said, smiling. She didn't know whether to cry or to laugh because at this very moment the Doctor didn't know _anything _about her – for him she was just a stranger, passing by. It surely hurt but River pushed herself to smile and not look completely devastated.

"Get out." The Doctor said sternly. River tried her best not to laugh because that's what the Doctor would always do – whether you are person he knows or someone he met for the first time. "All of you, turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away."

"Oh, so you want me to take _her _with us – after everything I've done?" the woman remarked, enjoying how confused the Doctor was. Then, looking to the side, she said, "Everyone, you can take off your helmets – we have breathers. And, oh, Rose – just as I promised."

Doctor looked at River, not believing his own ears. What... did she just say _Rose? _No, he probably misheard, or there was some other Rose, because, really, there were hundreds and hundreds girls with a name 'Rose' and he should probably stop reacting so confused and lost every time he heard the name, and...

"Hello, Doctor."

Swallowing, Doctor blinked, and blinked some more. Then he started slowly turning his head to soon meet _her. _Brown eyes, blonde hair, cheeky smile that was always present on her face.

Rose.

_His _Rose was standing not 10 metres away from him, having tears in her eyes and trying hard not to cry.

The Doctor choked, sighed and then the huge smile was placed on his face, "Rose Tyler. _The _Rose Tyler. The most amazing and incredible human I've ever met."

And then they ran towards each other.

Rose jumped into Doctor's hands that immediately entwined her waist. Rose's left cheek was pressed to Doctor's right and all they could do was hold onto each other for the dear life. They didn't see each other for two years. Two _bloody _years of having no way of contact whatsoever.

Both didn't know what to do – either to cry or to laugh – but the moment was broken by Strackman's cough.

"I see that this is some kind of... reunion but can you tell us, Rose,who are these two and why did he call you 'Rose _Tyler_'?"

"Oh, it's 'cause I'm married." Rose quickly responded.

"You are _married?"_ The Doctor looked disgusted – he was always against marriages.

"No, I'm not, but if you continue I might as well call you my husband," Rose whispered warningly and the Doctor put his hands up in a defensive way, stepping back.

"Got it, got it. But what are you doing here and how did you-"

"I'll tell you later, and stop or you will blow up my cover completely!"

"Okay, sorry, sorry, I just thought-"

"You thought _what – _that you can just waltz in and reveal my true identity to people I obviously don't know well? Is that what you thought?"

"No! But what was I supposed to think? Do you even know how it looks?"

"Well, you tell me how it looks?"

"I'm sorry – are we interrupting something?" The 'other' Dave politely asked and the couple finally turned around, looking quite exasperated and synchronously said 'No!'.

"So who are you?" Anita asked, looking at three of them as if they were talking Chinese.

"Oh, I'm the Doctor," the Doctor brightly replied, putting hands in his pockets in his usual manner. Then he motioned to Donna, "This lady here is the brilliant Donna Noble and the woman that came with you is, as you already know, Rose Tyler. Are we clear?"

"Yeah, except you should call her 'Rose Song' just as the rest of us," Anita said, looking around the shop.

Because the rest were looking somewhere else, the Doctor looked at Rose and soundlessly said 'Rose Song?'

'Yeah deal with it!'

"So, Doctor, what were you saying about us getting out of here?" River said, looking at the happy couple from the corner of her eyes.

"Ah, you're still here. I think I told you to get out of here and you didn't listen – typical humans," the Doctor said off-handedly. "There is something here – something that killed all the people that previously entered this library and you don't seem to understand just how dangerous it all is. This _something_ lives in the shadows, so don't you dare step into any shadow or you can consider yourself being already dead, got it? You should be scared right now." He looked at each one of them. "A bit more scared than that."

Silence.

"Also, I didn't catch it – who are you?"

"We didn't say our names." Strackman replied sharply but was calmed by River's soft smile. Song looked at the Doctor and told him the names of everyone in the group.

"And why exactly are you here? Because, please, don't tell me you are..."

"Yes, we are archaeologists," River answered. "Got something against us?"

"I'm a time traveller – I laugh at archaeologists," the Doctor remarked.

Rose came near Donna, who looked really confused and pissed off about everything.

"Hi, I'm Rose Tyler," Rose held out her hand, smiling but she was met with unamused Donna.

"Please don't tell me you are Doctor's previous companion, now you met after a long time and you want to travel with him again with me gone because, blondy, I'm not giving up my Doctor so easily," Noble replied while shaking Rose's hand.

She laughed, "Believe it or not, I actually hope that you will travel with us. What's your name, love?"

"Noble, Donna Noble." The ginger woman replied, looking at the blonde as if she was assessing her.

"I feel like someone over watched 'James Bond'," Rose wiggled her eyebrows.

"I'm pretty sure James Bond just copied me."

"What, he travelled in future and, liking your way of introducing yourself, just copied you?"

"You can never know when you have a time traveller near you all the time."

Both women snorted and then laughed looking at the Doctor. He, in returned, asked 'What?' and felt déjà vu – Rose and Sarah Jane were laughing at him as well the first time they met.

"So, you are his new companion?" Tyler asked, enjoying Donna's company. "And you help him save the world all the time?"

"You can say that but, let me tell you a secret," Donna cautiously looked around and then leaned in, whispering the words into Rose's ear, "I save the world while he mumbles about some scientific nonsense and makes comments on how 'brilliant' and 'interesting' all the aliens we meet are."

"Oh, he loves doing it, doesn't he?" Rose agreed. "And does he still wear glasses though he doesn't even need them?"

"Yes! And when he gets embarrassed or doesn't know what to say he stares into space and makes some weird sounds like 'er... oh... am'."

"I know, right?" Rose was almost jumping with excitement. "And his 'well's are always long – I swear, he can never just say 'well' – he's always like 'weeell' and then says a lot of science stuff I'll never get."

"Ohh, I hate it," Donna remarked fiercely, mimicking the Doctor, "Oh, look at me, I'm the Doctor in the TARDIS and you should always know what I'm talking about, otherwise I will look at you like you are a five-year-old."

Both women laughed, clearly enjoying each other's company, but then they started to talk about the situation they were in.

"So, it's dangerous to stay in the shadows? How so?" Rose asked.

"Doctor didn't explain what all of this was about – all I know is we need to 'count shadows' otherwise we are... dead." Donna replied seriously, though then she looked a bit sceptical. "And our faces are taken to be used in these horrible nodes. Just think about it – when another group of explorers will come here, just as confused as us, they might see my face without shivering! How gross is that!"

"Travelling with the Doctor _is _gross, so don't sound surprised." Tyler winked.

"Girls, stop chit-chatting – you can do it later – and come here," Doctor shouted. Donna and Rose looked at each other, soundlessly saying 'so bossy', and went towards the group.

The Doctor – who now wore the glasses - did something on the computer and then the screen has shown them that access is denied. After a couple of attempts, the screen has finally shown them a small girl that was sitting in her living room, drawing something.

"Hello." The Doctor said.

"Hello," the girl replied, looking scared, "are you in my television?"

"Weeell, no... I'm... I'm... somewhere in space. I was trying to call a data security processor."

"Would you like to speak to my dad?"

"Dad or mom – that would be lovely."

"Wait, I know you – you are in my library."

"_Your _library?"

"The library has never been on television before. What have you done?"

"I, erm... I just..."

But then the signal was lost.

As the Doctor tried to restore the contact, nothing happened and the only things he saw is the sign 'Cal. Access denied.'

Suddenly there was a book flying from the shelf. In a second, the other one followed and then there were books flying everywhere. The Doctor, however, didn't react to it and continued working on the computer.

In some time Doctor finally left the computer and called everyone towards the centre of the room.

"So what happened?" The Doctor asked. "What physically happened here 100 years ago?"

"There was a message from the Library," River explained, "just one. 'The lights are going out'. Then the computer sealed the planet. And there was nothing for a hundred years."

"Erm, excuse me," Miss Evangelista said as she realised the door at the back suddenly opened.

"There was one thing in the last message," River said as no one pain attention towards Miss Evangelista.

"That's confidential." Strackman Lux said, stepping towards Song.

"I trust this man. With my life." River replied, surprising everyone in the room, except for Rose. "With everything."

"You've only just met him!"

"No, he's only just met me."

"Erm, this might be important actually!" Miss Evangelista shouted.

"In a moment." Strackman sternly replied.

"This is a data extract that came with a message," River explained, showing Doctor the said message.

"4022 saved. No survivors." The Doctor read in plain voice.

"But how come 4022 people are in here and there are no survivors?" Donna asked.

"That's why we are here to find out." River answered.

"So far what we haven't found are any bodies", Strackman Lux added.

Miss Evangelista realised that no one was going to listen to her so, feeling brave, she went through the opened door and in the corridor. Looking around, she decided to just go wherever she felt like going and soon found herself in a room with a chair in the centre. She went towards it and...

A loud scream erupted from some other room and everyone stopped doing what they were doing just a second ago to stand up and run towards the scream.

As the group entered the room, they have realised there was a skeleton sitting on the chair. The skeleton, however, wasn't usual: it was covered in mangled white costume. The costume was mangled by really small pieces and it made the skeleton look even scarier.

"Everybody careful, stay in the light." The Doctor warned them and the following 10 minutes were one of the most unpleasant minutes in Rose's life. The skeleton was talking but, as River explained, Miss Evangelista was only ghosting. Still, hearing the person's voice that you've only seen a couple of minutes ago and realising this same person was now dead... Rose felt like crying and, looking over at Donna, she saw that Noble was about to cry too.

As her pattern degraded, she kept repeating herself and River, excusing for doing so, finally switched off her suit.

"That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen," Donna said and Rose couldn't agree more.

After taking in a thought of Evangelista being gone, everyone went back to the shop where the Doctor started explaining to everyone what the alien that did it was.

"Now, we are surrounded by creatures called Vashta Nerada. Vashta Nerada are creatures that appear as shadows to hunt. Every planet has them but they are usually in much smaller numbers and not as aggressive."

"Every? Even Earth?" Rose asked, slightly bemused because Doctor has never mentioned it before.

"Yep."

"Wait, it can't be truth – I've never seen them!" Donna loudly announced.

"Weeell they're still there – even if you don't see them. Everyone, we'll need to move, but not the 'proper' Dave. 'Proper' Dave, stay still."

"Why, what happened?"

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, Dave. But you got two shadows."

**A/N: things you should've already understood:**

**1) River in this story is SO very different to River in the show (I mean, her past and all)**

**2) I changed the way the group of archaeologists entered the library & the shop**

**3) I LOVE River & Donna so you'll see more of them later on**

**4) ****reviews make me happy :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**And the past echoed – Pt. 4**

"'_Proper' Dave, stay still."_

"_Why, what happened?"_

"_I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, Dave. But you've got two shadows."_

∞ **DW ∞**

As the Doctor took a helmet from the side and put it on 'proper' Dave, everyone stepped aside and had to see how a person in front of them died and started ghosting. It was horrible – just as horrible as Miss Evangelista's death – but it was inevitable.

Doctor grabbed Donna and Rose's hands and ran towards another room, telling them to step in a specific place.

"What are we doing here?" Donna asked, completely oblivious to Doctor's movements. "Are we some kind of shopping, 'cause we don't have time for it!"

"The place you are standing in is a teleport and it will teleport both of you back to the TARDIS," Doctor explained, changing the settings.

"No, don't you dare teleporting me back to TARDIS!" Rose cried out, stepping from the circle and affectionately hugging her Doctor. "I've only just met you after two years and I can't leave you in potential danger!"

"Rose, I understand how you feel, but you and Donna both need to go and I need to help these people," Doctor hurriedly explained, holding Rose's face in his hands. "I will _not _leave you and don't you think otherwise, Rose Tyler. I will be back – just as always."

Blonde understood the importance of his presence with these people, but she still couldn't find the strength in herself to push aside and step into the circle. She knew that she sounded and looked ridiculous but she was still clinging to Doctor for dear life.

Finally, Donna stepped towards her, hugged her and soothingly walked Rose towards the circle. As soon as they stood there, Doctor pressed the button and they were gone. He looked at the place where his companions were standing only a moment ago, sighed and ran back in the shop.

"Hey, who turned down the lights," 'proper' Dave started repeating again and again while Doctor, feeling heroic, stepped towards him.

"Dave, can you hear me?" he asked frowning.

The reply he got was Dave grabbing his shoulders and the helmet, that wasn't revealing his face only a second ago, was now bright and everyone were able to see a skull.

River helped the Doctor to get away from Dave and, as Doctor screamed 'run!', everybody were out. All of them were running as fast as they could though Dave – at least, what was left of him – was moving rather slow.

As they ran towards a certain point, the Doctor checked his sonic and announced that his companions weren't teleported, sounding incredibly concerned. If they weren't teleported, they were somewhere out there in danger and he didn't have any idea where to look for them – and he was ready to do so no matter what.

Seeing a node near the lamp, Doctor ran towards it, asking about Rose Tyler's position in the library. The answer, however, left him breathless.

The face of the node turned towards the Doctor and revealed Rose's face. _His _Rose's face.

"Rose Tyler has left the library. Rose Tyler has being saved." The node said with Rose's voice, sounding completely plain.

"Rose." The Doctor whispered, not believing his own eyes or ears. It was the Library playing mind games with him - there was no way in hell that Rose was... he couldn't say it in his head. River saw and heard everything as well, coming closer and looking completely shocked – no, there was no way Rose was ending like this.

"Rose Tyler has left the library. Rose Tyler has being saved." The node started repeating again and again.

"Node, where is Donna Noble?" Song asked with trembling voice because she already suspected the same answer.

Node's face turned and then turned back revealing Donna's face that was repeating similar phrase, "Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has being saved."

"Doctor, I know it's hard to get over with, but we have people here and we need to more," River said, and then, hearing Dave's voice, started to drag the Doctor after her. "Hurry, we can't help anyone if we stay and die, Doctor!"

"I promised her not to leave her anymore... just a couple of minutes ago," Doctor whispered while running, tears of bitterness falling freely from his eyes. He cared about Donna a lot too, but, only for a moment, all he could think of was Rose and how trusting she was.

Finally, he decided that he won't give up and will find a way to find both of them or he's not the Doctor.

∞ **DW ∞**

Rose abruptly opened her eyes, finding herself in a plain old-fashioned bed. The room she was in was clean and almost empty – just like hotel rooms she was used to stay in on those rare occasions when she and Mickey left London to travel around United Kingdom.

Looking down at herself she realised she was wearing a pink pyjama; her hair was brushed and she didn't have a bit of makeup on her face which felt father odd.

Just as she was looking around, someone knocked in the door and entered the room. The visitor was a man in his middle-forties; he wore glasses and a plain black suit.

"Hello, Rose." The man said, smiling reassuringly.

"Who are you?" Rose asked: she didn't understand what was going on at all.

"I'm Doctor Moon," the man introduced. "I've been treating you since you came here two years ago."

Pause.

"Ah, Doctor Moon," Rose smiled, shaking her head. "Of course, I'm sorry Mr Moon. I just... forgot for a second."

"Yes, and then you remembered." Dr Moon smiled again. "Do you mind going for a walk?"

All Rose knew is that next second she was out in the garden, walking alongside Dr Moon. She frowned and looked around.

"That's weird, 'cause I remember talking to you just a second ago in my room," Rose told Mr Moon.

"No, we were talking, and then I left you so you can get changed and then we went out, meeting Donna at the main entrance."

"Donna? Who is Donna?" The second she pronounced the name Rose felt like her brain started to boil. Was it because she was starting to remember something?

"Donna Noble, your old friend that is here because she has same problem as you." Dr Moon's calming voice helped her to forget the pain and continue walking.

"She has dreams about a madman in a blue box?"

"Not exactly, but pretty similar. Anyhow, would you like to go shopping?"

Just then they appeared in a shopping centre with hundreds of people, all being in hurry.

"Ah, good old 'Marks & Spencer'," Dr Moon commented motioning towards the dark-green sign, "though I expect you to like 'H&M' more."

"J-Just a second ago we-" Rose was suddenly interrupted by a loud 'Oi!' and, turning her head, Rose saw a man in his middle thirties with brown spiky hair, big glasses and in blue suit. "Oh, Lord, does everyone wear suits here – doesn't it feel uncomfortable sometimes?"

The man stopped near her, smiling happily, and hugged surprised Rose, "I missed you while being at work today, Rose." Then, turning to Dr Moon, "Mind if we have a walk without anyone else?"

"Sure, take care of her." Dr Moon said and disappeared in a second.

"So, how was your day, Rose?" The man said, holding her hand and happily walking through the shopping centre.

"Who-who are you?" Tyler was still trying to get her head around her being here, and now there was a man who seemed to know her all too well.

"You should be joking, right?" The stranger gave out a short laugh. "I'm John, John Smith – and you, Rose, are my fiancée for over two months now. We're going to move in my apartment once you go through all tests and doctors will allow you to leave the hospital because you are fully recovered."

"Fiancée..?" The woman repeated, looking in space and then her lips lifted up. "Oh, dear John, I'm sorry – for a minute there I was spacing out. My day was fantastic, what about yours?"

"Oh it was great as well, just did some programming. Want to go home?"

"Sure, love." And they were home, both wearing pyjamas. "The film was good, wasn't it?"

"The film?" Rose echoed, shaking her head. "Oh, yes, the film was... brilliant."

"If we had kids, we wouldn't have time for us, but here we are, in our room..." John whispered, starting to kiss Tyler's neck.

"Why- why don't we have kids?" she asked, feeling absolutely nothing. Her words caused John to stop and look at her as if she was crazy. "What?"

"Rose, what are talking about?" he hoarsely asked, looking terrified. "I-I thought you didn't want kids – you said that yourself."

"Why wouldn't I want kids?" the blonde looked bemused. The second she said it John gripped his hair and looked away, pacing nervously. He was looking around and gaping; then, to Rose's surprise, he suddenly pulled his hair and... it was a wig. His natural hair was black. Now Rose was gaping – what the hell was going on?

"Rose, what's wrong with you?" the man sneered, throwing off his costume; Tyler quickly turned around, blushing, but she then looked back and saw him putting on jeans and a simple T-shirt. "I-you were the one, who didn't want kids!"

"What? Why?"

"Because you wanted to travel and children weren't your prerogative," John said as if it was the most obvious thing ever. "When we started dating you were alright with me but then you started making weird requests, like that I should change my hair colour – and style, for that matter; you bluntly told me to stop wearing these 'hideous' t-shirts and jeans. I agreed and did as you said – because I love you! But no, it wasn't enough – you wanted to travel. You always knew that I wasn't rich but you still wanted to travel around the world and-and I decided to stop you and we agreed that we will only travel once a month, but you're still not happy, are you?"

Rose was so confused about what was going on but, for some reason, her mouth didn't listen to her brain, "Sorry, John, it's just that... I had a long day and... sorry that I was confusing you so much."

The man sighed and, coming near her, gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I know, I'm sorry I blew up like that... I shouldn't forget about your health problems."

"Yeah."

The silence felt rather uncomfortable for Rose, but John didn't seem to mind it.

"So, you remember about our trip to China next week?"

∞ **DW ∞**

All Rose knew is that she suddenly disappeared and re-appeared in the Library. As she realised where she was, she also became aware that everything that happened only a couple of minutes before wasn't reality – it was some sort of trick, though she didn't intend to find out what caused it on the first place because Doctor would surely...

Speaking of which, where was he?

Rose started to look around only to find sad Doctor and Donna standing next to him. As she approached them, Doctor looked her in the eyes and she realised everything.

River was gone and he was sorry – so, so sorry.

Instead of crying or trying to find out exactly what happened – because he would simply give her some science nonsense she didn't understand – she came near him and whispered 'It will be alright' – the words she hated the most as she never believed them. He, in return, hugged her and after some time Donna mumbled 'Ah, sappers' and hugged them both. It was good – to be hugged by the Doctor and this amazing woman that has now became her friend – and maybe – just maybe – world wasn't that bad.

As they left the room where more and more people started teleporting, Doctor finally asked Rose about River and she honestly told him, "I don't know her. Well, I know how she looks, but I have no idea who she is and why did she come and teleported me to this universe." Okay, last part was a lie, but she promised Song not to tell him anything as it might change the whole universe. "What I do know is that she helped me to find you and she didn't ask anything in return. However, I want to know what happened to her."

"She sacrificed herself to save the system and everyone in it," the Doctor sternly replied, looking at his sonic screwdriver. "She deserves to be called a hero." Then, after a small pause, he looked at his ginger companion. "Donna, would you mind going to the TARDIS and... wait for us there?"

"Sure thing, spaceman, just don't do anything stupid," Donna nodded and then motioned towards Rose. "You know, you are really lucky some pretty blonde would actually care about you, with your mind high in the skies all the time."

"I know," Doctor replied seriously and looked down with frown on his face. Not to upset him anymore, Donna soundly told Rose she was leaving and Rose nodded.

As Donna left, Doctor looked up somewhere above Rose's shoulder and his voice was somewhat hoarse. "Rose, I'm-"

"Don't," she interrupted which didn't happen very often so he looked at her. _Really _looked at her. Shudder went through woman's body - she felt as if he was able to read her mind. Rose dearly hoped that it wasn't it, otherwise she would be _extremely _ashamed about some things. "You apologise about anything and everything and it drives me insane because _none _of it is your fault. You are _not _responsible for all these aliens out there that are planning attacks on Earth but you make it look like you actually _are._ Don't you get it? All of us are thankful to you for doing what you are doing all the time and... maybe, you should just accept it?"

Doctor looked like he was thinking over her words and for a moment Rose was scared of his reaction but then his frown was gone and a soft smirk appeared on his face – not a smile, but still better than a frown. "Thank you. Not just for this." Silence. "And... make no mistake, Rose Tyler – from now on you are stuck with me."

"Forever." Rose whispered despite of what happened when she said it to him the last time two years ago. Doctor seemed to remember it as well, but the smirk wasn't gone – he simply took her hand in his and, examining their locked hands, said something that she didn't expect to hear from him.

"Forever is a very long time."

"Not if you are a Time Lord."

Sad smile. "_Especially _if you are Time Lord."

**too many hugs, don't ya think? anyway, hope you enjoyed, AND I'll finish it off in next chapter so I'll be done with the returning part and continue it with ADVENTURES :3**

**P.S. I took it upon myself to include some BBC (and, maybe, other) TV-series in the future and change their plots so don't freak out and... enjoy :)**

**P.P.S. River? where are you? *gasp* next chapter ;P**


	5. Chapter 5

**The loop of events – Pt. 1**

"_Forever is a very long time."_

"_Not if you are a Time Lord."_

_Sad smile. "__**Especially**__ if you are Time Lord."_

∞ **DW ∞**

"Hey, love birds, I'm sorry to interrupt your lovely reunion, but I think something is wrong with River's screwdriver – or yours, Doctor, I don't care," Donna announced, arriving soon after Rose and the Doctor finished their long and intense conversation.

"Let me see," Doctor said, taking it from her and seeing green lights slowly turning off. Then it hit him. "Oh my God, Donna, you are brilliant!"

"Well, I know I am." Noble smiled, looking rather pleased. "So what's up with this-"

"No time to explain," and Doctor rushed somewhere, Rose and Donna closely following him; truth to be told, it was difficult, because Doctor's speed was, well, _inhuman. _Rose doubted it was Time Lords' tendency to run that quickly so she believed it was because Doctor spent so many years of his life running from everyone and everything.

Everything had its end – even the almighty Doctor – but his end was greatly postponed, and young Tyler honestly didn't know if she was supposed to be happy about it or sad that this made him see everything around him die.

Doctor finally reached his destination and, moving as fast as he could, ran into a... Rose didn't know what this big blue ray of light was, but as he left it with happy smile with River's sonic that didn't show any green light anymore, she silently decided that, whatever it was, Doctor has done it right – just as always.

"I wasn't able to save her," he explained, still smiling, "but I was able to send her to the database where she will forever be with her friends."

Both women – still breathless from a long run – looked at each other and suddenly started to laugh.

_He did it._

"Now, I recall it's time for us to move to the TARDIS, or..?"

"TARDIS!" both women breathed out, looking extremely pleased.

In a matter of minutes three of them were inside the TARDIS with doctor choosing the coordinates. For Rose it was just like in old times – her and Doctor – but with Donna it was only better because she could clearly see that the ginger woman didn't hold any sort of romantic feelings towards the Time Lord.

"Where off to now?" Donna asked excitedly, holding on to TARDIS for dear life because she expected to have to fall quite a lot.

"Weeell we can always allow Rose to make a decision because she only came back," Rose warmly smiled at these words, "or we can choose random coordinates and be anywhere in space and time."

"I choose the latter!" blonde put her hand up and Donna agreed with her, though she didn't put her hand up because... because she was Donna Noble, for Christ's sake, and Donna Noble never acted childishly.

Well, what a huge fat lie, per se.

"Alllrighty-mighty!" Doctor exclaimed and pressed a few buttons on the panel, pulling down the trigger.

"'alllrighty-mighty'? Seriously, where does he come up with this kind of staff anyway?" Donna asked Rose who just rolled her eyes.

"Don't ask – he did it even before he met me, so why bother?"

The TARDIS started to shake and everyone felt on the floor, despite them holding up.

The Doctor was the first one to stand up – to 'jump up' anyway – and, checking if TARDIS was alright, he turned towards 'his girls', giving them a cheeky wink.

"Who's the first one to go through the door?"

"Both of us," Donna said, hooking her hands with Rose's. "Don't you dare to think that the fact that she knows you longer than me will make her feel challenging towards me, eh?"

"Yep!" Young Tyler nodded, radiating smile on her lips making his insides melt. He didn't see her smiling like that for _years._ "You know, I actually start to think that I should've thought better that not to be worrying about you and Doctor," she said, looking at Noble.

Both Donna and the Doctor looked really lost, "Huh?"

"Well, Donna is so brilliant, smart and independent," Rose dreamily sighed, "that any guy would fall for her if he had eyes and ears." She winked at Doctor, while her insides painfully clenched; she didn't know the reason but she was pretty sure it was something to do with relationship that Donna and Doctor might have.

Truth to be told, she remembered everything that happened on the Bad Wolf Bay – especially the part when he was going to tell her something but then vanished – but it only made her feel more self-conscious. He didn't mention it once since they met – not that they had time when Donna was around – but she doubted Doctor would open up to her that easily and quickly – she knew him better than that.

Instead, giving him space would be a good idea – yup, definitely helpful.

"Well, I'm not just 'any guy', Rose Tyler, and you should've remembered it by now," Doctor easily brushed off the tension that, he was certain, would settle if they continued with the topic. "So, are you going or you want me to send you to dinosaurs and leave all alone?" He sounded teasing and cheeky, so Rose couldn't help but laugh. Donna, on the other hand, just made _a face _and rushed towards the door, opening it.

"Wow!" she cried out and turned around, motioning to her companions to come and look. "I don't bloody believe my eyes so you better come out and tell me if I went mad!"

Alarmed, Rose and Doctor exchanged suspicious looks and rushed outside, stepping out of the TARDIS. When they looked around they realised one thing: all of them went mad.

Clear blue skies, green grass and building – lots of buildings, in fact, that looked like the ones in 16th century – what surprised them were people... definitely neither humans nor aliens.

All of them looked like creatures from famous fantasy books. There were short people with hairy feet – seems like they were hobbits from "The Lord of the Rings"; short creatures with thin ears and only a shirt on – these were most likely representing elves from "Harry Potter" series; talking animals like the ones from "The Chronicles of Narnia". All of them were speaking the same language, moving past each other and heading somewhere, some of them rushing and others having a lazy walk. None of them seemed amused about a blue telephone box suddenly appearing in the centre of the city.

From where three travellers were standing they were able to see towers and castles not that far away; mountains were only a kilometre or so away from the centre and all of them were different in colours and height; up in the skies travellers were able to see Sun and Moon that halved the city, making the left part – where they were standing – warm and sunny and right – dark and unpleasant.

All of this looked like... a fairy tail.

"Doctor, I remember you telling me that none of the fictional books were written by writers who actually happened to be on a planet that fully mirrored the books. In other words... these creatures... they're just fiction, aren't they? They are not real."

"Yes, Rose, they're not real but somehow..." Doctor trailed off, coming closer and touching one of the creatures. Creature didn't look offended – on the contrary, it smiled and turned around to face the small group of travellers.

"Hello there, visitors. I see all of you are surprised and maybe a bit scared, but fear not – yes, I'm real, just as real as any of you are."

"But you can't be," Donna disagreed, looking sceptical. "Doctor, what kind of crapola is that – these creatures are from books, it's impossible for them to have a form."

"Ah, I see the lady here doesn't fully believe me," the creature nodded. "Just like all the other visitors you don't believe that it is possible but here we are – real and breathing. Would you like to know the history behind all this?"

"This would be nice, yes," the Doctor nodded and three friends started following the creature that started walking.

"You see, a few decades ago a strange man called Jack Harkness appeared in our king's room."

"Please don't let this be the Jack I'm thinking about," the Doctor groaned though he already knew the answer.

"He said that he is a man from 21st century that appeared in our year five billion six thousand and ten by mistake. Our country has lots of rules that might seem weird to others but they are the law. One of them strictly restricts people to arrive in king's room without knocking in the door. If someone doesn't follow this rule he's placed in a prison for fifteen years."

"Fifteen years? This is complete-" Donna started but was interrupted by Doctor's wary look.

"Yes, fifteen – that's the number of knocks the person should make. Any more or any less and you get the same fifteen years in prison. Well, and this Jack said that he would love to stay but can't and, as a payment, he gave our king a set of books, as he said, from 21st century that we might find interesting. We don't have any real books anymore as we care about trees, so getting books that weren't electronic was a good refreshment for our country. When this man left, our king read all of the books and, amazed, told all of us to take one, read it and pass it on. Everyone from five to five hundred read the books and one of our citizens had an idea – with our technology we can easily make ourselves look like these creatures in books and so we did. We are different from any other country and any other planet in the whole wide Universe – isn't it amazing?" the creature that was probably female exclaimed, looking up at the blue skies. "All of this thanks to the amazing Jack Harkness. May luck be with him."

"And may he live forever." Other creatures on the street exclaimed, surprising three travellers.

"They can't even imagine how close they are to truth," the Doctor mumbled to himself. "Rose, there is something I forgot to tell you concerning Jack and-"

"It can wait, traveller," the creature spoke up again, "because you were lucky enough to come here on our 3812th scientific day when everyone has something to show."

"Are you forced to invent things?" Rose asked cautiously, not sure if it was rude to ask a question like that.

"Yes, it's a law," the creature agreed, smiling, "but it is a good law. If we all invent something to show once a year, our civilisation will make a huge progress in no time. Now, we need to go or we might be late and king won't be happy. By the way, my name is Jingu Cho."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jingu Cho. I'm the Doctor, and these are my friends – Donna and Rose."

"The pleasure is all mine, Doctor. Follow me and don't get lost – it's really easy to get lost in a city like this."

∞ **DW ∞**

As they followed Jingu, both females were fascinated with the architecture of the city and the amount of decorations that were placed specifically for this day. Although most houses looked simple and quite old, some of them that were closer to the centre of the city were new and extraordinary. The house Rose liked the most was a huge silver sphere, securely placed on four columns that had an elevator that was able to change direction sensing the side the person stepped on: elevator was going down as someone was stepping on it from the house and up when there was someone going from downstairs.

As for decorations, there were balloons with encouraging words; sparkly water in fountains which had stones placed in a particular way to say "Happy Scientific Day!"; lots of stickers and drawings, and the latter ones were everywhere – on bridges, houses, even ground. There were also fireworks: "Happy Scientific Day!", "Good luck to all of you!" or a face that was probably the king's face.

Everything was so beautiful and breathtaking.

"I will leave the two of you here as I need to go and check in," Jingu explained, leaving the group and standing in a long line that trailed off near a gigantic ancient building that belonged to king.

The Doctor turned around, facing his companions and looking concentrated. "Okay, you can now say that all of this is real but... it's all wrong. It is a mistake that wasn't supposed to happen in a million years – or, more precisely, never – and there isn't any chance we can make these people think over and go back to their human bodies."

"But isn't it terrific, Doctor? We are on the planet with the creatures we believed would have never existed – it's... it's like a fairy tale coming true," Rose argued and Donna seemed to agree.

"It might seem like a good thing but believe me, it is not," Doctor said, looking her straight into eyes. "It's an evolution that wasn't supposed to happen and that will effect everything afterwards – most likely, badly."

"So what do we do?" Donna asked. "Can't simply leave this planet and can't go back to the day Jack gave them all these books."

"For now, we will go and see how all of this works; afterwards we will have a quick chat with the king and... well, we'll see," the Doctor replied cheerfully – everything around him was so peaceful that he couldn't find it in himself to worry too much.

As they proceeded to get some snacks and have a look around, a male voice has suddenly erupted from every single speaker there was around. By the sound of it, the owner was quite old – in human years he would be around sixty.

"Citizens of Sherpalion, I am delighted to have you here today for the annual scientific day. I hope all of you enjoy yourself and, as always, I expect to see a lot of excellent inventions. Check-in will close in around 20 minutes so I ask everyone to stand in a round and have their inventions in their hands."

These of sherpalions that already checked in hurried to start forming a round which, by the look of it, wasn't going to be small. Donna, Rose and the Doctor stepped back to give way for others.

Just as promised, the checking-in finished in under half an hour and soon every single citizen of Sherpalion was standing in a round with invention in their hands. Then, the main entrance of the king's house opened and the king himself stepped out, surprising Rose and Donna with his look.

Really, after a crazy day like this, they wouldn't be surprised about anything, but the king still managed to surprise them as he looked like a copy of... Prince Caspian. Adult's mind, soul and voice and teenager's body – someone evidently didn't want to modify himself like rest of citizens did.

The man slowly proceeded towards the circle and, as people stepped apart to give him way, he just as majestically walked past them. When the circle closed behind him, the man looked around and then came to the nearest person, telling her to explain what was the invention in her hands. There was a camera man just near them so everything king said was translated onto a big screen that the small group of travellers could see.

"What do we have here, my love?"

"These, sir, are glasses that can protect one from radiation," the woman explained confidently, but all that bravado on her face vanished as king frowned and looked at her disapprovingly.

"Glasses against radiation? Are you kidding me? Who the hell would need glasses against radiation if they didn't have the whole costume that would already include glasses? Idiot!" And king slapped poor woman so hard that she felt to the floor. Too scared to look up, she started crying quietly.

Time Lord and his companions were about to interrupt but at that moment woman looked up and saw that they looked concerned and were going to help her. Her eyes widened and she slowly shook her head, telling them to stop. It seemed to her that they had no ideas about the punishment they would get if they interfere.

For once, Doctor decided to stop and wait – maybe, things weren't that bad. However, as the king continued on, it became clear to him what kind of person the king was and it wasn't just the amount of money he owned – it was more about the power he had over people. Oh, the sick bastard seemed to enjoy it.

As the king was finishing the circle by coming back to where he started with, only seventeen people didn't have their inventions thrown on the floor and broken – and this was out of around five hundred! Nevertheless, the king seemed to enjoy himself and, as he asked one of them what he got, the man gave him an answer that struck the Time Lord and his companions, as well as others.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I call these two human-height tubes a machine that allows anyone to travel to the place of his dreams anywhere in time and space."

**I'm such a troll, am I not – I just left River live as she did in the series *evil laugh* anyway, that's the **_**only **_**thing I didn't change about her life – more to come!**

**omg, 50****th**** anniversary, can't you come sooner T.T**


End file.
